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Good morning and welcome to Thursday.
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⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today’s newsletter takes 4.36 minutes to read. (With the 360° view: +3.47 minutes.)
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🍩 Daily Sprinkle
"No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess."
–Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
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👇📰 Quick Bits
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📺🎟️ Netflix’s Golden Ticket
Image: Netflix
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🎁 Netflix has acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC) and will expand their existing deal to create a universe spanning several formats, the two companies announced yesterday.
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💰 What’s the big deal ?... The streaming giant has made fewer than 10 acquisitions over the past decade – and this would be its biggest.
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While the purchase price wasn’t disclosed, Netflix’s deal with the RDSC three years ago was reported at the time to be among the biggest ever for kids and family programming, worth $500 million to $1 billion.
⏩ Driving the move… Netflix's business model has long relied on licensing fan-favorite franchises from traditional content companies and producing its own content, but now it may be trying to take a page out of Disney’s playbook (i.e, Star Wars & Marvel).
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The RSDC acquisition allows the streaming giant a rare opportunity to lock up a content catalog appealing to both kids and adults.
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Dahl’s books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide, inhabited by popular characters such as Matilda, The BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Willy Wonka and The Twits – many of whom have already made it to Hollywood.
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"These projects opened our eyes to a much more ambitious venture - the creation of a unique universe across animated and live action films and TV, publishing, games, immersive experiences, live theatre, consumer products and more," reads the press release.
🎥 What’s in the works: A series based on the world of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Taika Waititi and Phil Johnston, an adaptation of Matilda The Musical, and Wonka, a musical prequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Timothée Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka.
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🔮 The Future According to the Fed
Image: Mandel Ngan/AFP
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🎁 The Federal Reserve concluded its two-day September meeting by voting unanimously to hold benchmark interest rates near zero.
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The central bank also said it would begin tapering pandemic-era stimulus measures “soon,” but offered no further clarity. Experts say a formal announcement will likely come in November or December.
📸 The big picture… The Fed decreased its GDP projections for this year from 7% to 5.9%, but increased GDP estimates for 2022 and 2023.
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The central bank also bumped up its inflation forecast for this year (from 3.5% to 4.2%) and projected a slightly higher year-end unemployment rate (now 4.8% instead of 4.5%).
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It attributed this slowing of the economic recovery to a recent rise in COVID cases, and said the economy’s near future “continues to depend on the course of the virus.”
📈 The market reacts… All three major U.S. indexes finished the day higher than they began, marking the first day of gains for the Dow and S&P 500 since last Wednesday.
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The Fed’s pandemic-era stimulus programs - where it purchases treasury securities and mortgage-backed bonds - have been credited for helping push the S&P 500 to 54 record-high finishes so far this year.
👁️ Looking ahead… Nine Fed officials (half the committee) said they expect interest rates to rise from near-zero levels by the end of 2022 – up from the seven who said so in June.
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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said yesterday that if the job market maintained its steady improvement, the Fed would likely begin slowing the pace of its monthly bond purchases as early as November.
From the Left: CNBC
From the Right: WSJ
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🍩 DONUT Holes…
Image: Air Force Association
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☝️ The U.S. Space Force unveiled prototypes for its new service dress uniforms at this year's Air, Space & Cyber Conference (left & right, not center).
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🪙👛 Robinhood is testing cryptocurrency wallets.
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📱 Facebook’s chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, will step down from his role next year; he’ll be replaced by Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, currently the head of Facebook’s hardware division.
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💉 The U.S. is doubling the number of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccines it’s purchasing to share with the world to one billion.
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🇵🇹 Afghanistan's national girls soccer team has received asylum in Portugal.
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🍞 Shares of Toast Inc. rose 56% percent in their NYSE debut yesterday, valuing the restaurant software provider at ~$30 billion.
+Bonus: How much the $432 million Mega Millions jackpot winner will pay in taxes.
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🔥 The Hot Corner
💬 Heard Through the Grapevine… “[P]eople who leak confidential information do not belong here.” – Apple CEO Tim Cook. In a hilarious twist of irony, this quote was taken from a leaked memo sent to employees Tuesday night.
🔢 Stat of the Day: What’s the fastest fast-food drive-thru ? The answer is Taco Bell, with an average order taking just 4 minutes 28 seconds according to a QSR study.
📖 Worth Your Time… Did the Internet Actually Help Find Gabby Petito?
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🗣👂 Dose of Discussion
🇺🇸 Immigration at the Southern Border
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Migrants' encampment along the International Bridge near the Rio Grande in Del Rio, Texas; Image: AP
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🎁 Around 10,000 Haitian migrants camped in the Texas border town of Del Rio are being released into the U.S. on a “very, very large scale,” two U.S. officials told the AP in a report published early Wednesday.
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The Department of Homeland Security reportedly resumed deportation flights to Haiti over the weekend after pausing them following an August 14 earthquake, and begun busing migrants to El Paso, Laredo, and Rio Grande Valley. This week, it also added some flights to Tucson, AZ, according to the sources.
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Many migrants are released with notices to appear at an immigration office within 60 days, which takes less processing by Border Patrol agents than ordering an appearance in immigration court. (There’s an ongoing debate over what percentage of migrants appear for their court dates, as the government doesn't report that data directly.)
🤔 Wait a second… The events laid out in the AP’s report are at odds with public statements from top U.S. officials, including those made by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at a press conference on Monday.
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The Biden administration relies on a Trump-era pandemic policy allowing authorities to quickly deport migrants apprehended at the southern border, but has increasingly decided to release migrant families into the U.S. in recent months.
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In August, more than 70,000 migrant families were allowed into the country, while around 16,000 were expelled, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
🏛️ On Capitol Hill… Over the weekend, the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian nixed congressional Democrats’ attempt to include legislation granting a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants as part of the party’s $3.5 trillion budget resolution.
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The U.S. Border Patrol is under investigation after images circulated earlier this week appearing to show agents on horseback grabbing and chasing migrants seeking to enter the U.S.
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📣🗣💬 This Week’s Poll Responses
Positive – "I believe the ability to communicate and collaborate across vast distances adds value to our society. There are risks and it is frequently harmful, especially as we learn how to most effectively navigate and regulate such a powerful tool. But it also gives us an incredible ability to maintain friendships, experience different viewpoints, and find others with similar interests in a way that was previously unavailable."
Negative – "The harmful impact of social media includes a very long list of issues like increased trafficking schemes, bullying, addiction to our phones, suicidal ideation connected to social media influences, self-esteem issues, anxiety, depression, division over politics and social issues that destroy relationships, hacking information of users, and so much more. It's tragic how negative social media has become when it started out to be such a promising form of connection with others."
Neutral/Unsure – "Social Media can be helpful as well as degrading on mental, physical, and social health. If you keep comparing yourself to other people's posts, then you'll always feel bad about yourself. But, if you use social media to cheer people on, then you've made someone's day better. It's really just a double-edged sword."
+Note on Sample Size: We received 2,336 responses. 👏🥳 Some may have been lightly edited for grammar or clarity.
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🛸🌄📲 Calling from the Future…
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🛣️🚘🔋 Wireless Charging, But Make It For EV's
Artist’s rendering of a freeway equipped with wireless charging technology; Image: Kemet
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🎁 Michigan announced plans to develop the first wireless charging infrastructure on a public road in America that will eventually allow drivers to charge their EVs without stopping to plug in.
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The new Inductive Vehicle Charging Pilot program - if eventually proven out at scale - could be a major step in making EVs more appealing and accessible to car buyers.
A one-mile stretch of road in Southeastern Michigan will be selected to host the pilot program. It’s unclear how the technology would work, or how soon it will be operational.
🚦 Ready, set, go… If Michigan wants to be first to implement such a program, they’ll have to act fast. Indiana is also preparing a similar project in West Lafayette.
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The Hoosier state's project would use magnetizable concrete to enable wireless charging of electric vehicles while in motion.
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"We expect to reach the second phase of the project, testing on a public roadway within one to two years," said Scott Manning, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Transportation.
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🤗 Daily Dose of Positive
👑 Painting Fit For A Princess
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Images: Facebook
Wanessa Bąkowska is a talented twelve-year-old with Down Syndrome and a strong affinity for painting.
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The sixth grader uses everyday objects such as plastic cups, bags, and beads to create stunning abstract landscapes.
🏰 The royal treatment… A fan of the royal family, Wanessa wrote a letter and sent her painting titled “Earth” off to London for the queen herself. She was overjoyed when earlier this month, she received a reply.
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“The Queen wishes me to write and thank you for your letter,” read the response from Her Majesty’s Lady-in-Waiting. “The Queen was most touched… and greatly appreciates the care taken to create your picture entitled Earth.”
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💡 Dose of Knowledge
🇺🇸 State Your Business
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Can you name this U.S. state?
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(keep scrolling for the answer) |
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💡 Dose of Knowledge Answer
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